"Symbols More Than Signs" Pastor Ralph Douglas West- 9:35AM

[Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] church family we will begin our fall session of small group classes on tuesday september 21st with teachings written by our pastor ralph douglas west check out sgbs.tcww.org to join one of our classes to equip and encourage you in this season resilient the ability to spring back into shape after bending stretching or even being compressed does this describe you the pandemic health challenges financial crisis the stresses of work and family along with life's endless twists and turns can be the strongest person but you you're still standing the trials and tests that stretched you resulted into something beautiful and a new a resilient woman so let's celebrate join the mosaic women's ministry for our amazing women's weekend virtual experience september 23rd through the 25th you are amazing graciously embracing your journey and persevering toward your new best spiritual physical emotional and social self your hardships did not kill you you emerged like a phoenix from the ashes stronger wiser resilient so join us today and register at amazingwomensweekend.com hello family it's been quite a year although the vaccine is here fear is still steering our lives interfering with our minds closing the blinds on what hope looks like insurrection strikes covet cases spike with a new variant taking flight but i'm supposed to keep a smile on my face right [Music] despite we fight never losing sight of hope changing the scope of our lens to reflect connect and protect hope is here this is our safe space where we're free to embrace god's grace without fear of feeling misplaced when all hope is gone we are drawn to an energy that is incomprehensible but is still accessible hope has always been here dear maybe your church experience has smeared your perception of what fellowship is and what it looks like let all hearts and minds be cleared our savior did not bring you here to veer into the beaten path of wrath [Music] come one come all [Music] when the sun sets in your worries weigh a ton know that we are here for you we won't shun it's been a year hope is here we need you you've been through too much to stop short now take my hand and i'll show you how [Music] good morning church with our walls thank you for bringing god's house into your house this morning join with us as we give him all the glory and all of the honor this morning hallelujah [Music] glory and honor is [Music] glory and honor is [Music] i am so worthy oh is true [Music] strength is my [Music] it is [Music] and the prayers [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] hallelujah what a mighty god we serve let us pray almighty god unto whom all hearts are open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the holy spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthy magnify thy holy name through christ our lord amen old testament reading will be read from psalms 146 starting at verse 1 through verse 10. here begins the reading of the word of god praise the lord praise the lord o my soul i will praise the lord all my life i will sing praise unto my god as long as i live do not put your trust in princes and mortal men who cannot save when their spirit departs they return to the ground and on that very day their plans come to nothing blessed is he who help is in god of jacob whose hope is in the lord his god the maker of heaven and earth the sea and everything in them the lord who remains faithful forever he upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry the lord sets prisoners free the lord gives sight to the blind the lifts the lord lifts up those who are bowed down the lord loves the righteous the lord watches over the aliens and sustained the fatherless and the widows but he frustrates the ways of the wicked the lord reigns forever your god who zion for all generations praise thee the lord may the lord add a blessing to the hearing and the reading of his holy word our new testament stricter is coming from ephesians 1 3 through 8. that is ephesians 1 3-8 praise be to the god of the father our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessings in christ for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in love he predestined us for his adoption to sonship through jesus christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of his sins in accordance with the riches of god's grace that he lavishes on us with all wisdom and understanding this is the word of god thanks be to god let us pray heavenly father today we gather to praise your name together as your people with one heart and mind and undivided loyalty to jesus christ our lord and savior we seek to serve you o lord we trust in you and rejoice that you hold our lives in your hands help us to be faithful and righteous in all our dealings with you and others as we trust and pray in the power of the holy spirit father we intercede on behalf of the city of new orleans and surrounding areas as they contend with the aftermath of hurricane ida we pray for the health safety and well-being as we make intercession for the thousands of lives impacted by hurricane ida help us also to extend our hands in service and offer our resources and support to those in need lead and guide local state and supporting federal agency as they plan to clean up and restorative efforts oh lord you are a very present help in the times of trouble strengthen our bereaved families angela hart gilbert and brenda lacey mary watkins victor and esther oderine glenda williams randy and denise boone angela jenkins laverne simmons foster and laronica williams lorna and edward crawford and stacy green bless our pastor ralph douglas west first lady sharita and their family we pray that you continue to show them your sufficiency lord thank you for our church staff ministry volunteers congregation and visiting friends keep us and guide us by your holy spirit in the name of jesus we pray amen [Music] oh [Music] praise our hearts today please [Music] [Music] is [Music] walking [Music] today [Music] good morning church family our one day when i was lost he died upon the cross i know i know without a doubt it was the blood for me please join me with us as we sing [Music] i know i knew it was oh crucified one day [Music] yeah one day [Applause] down he's coming back again i know it was i know what [Music] to god be the glory for the great things he has done good morning to you church without walls family and thank you for bringing god's house into your house we certainly say welcome to all of you who are worshiping and streaming with us for the very first time if by chance you're worshiping with us for the first time would you please type a one in the chat window and let us know where you're streaming from and who invited you to worship with us this morning we certainly would also like to welcome you to join us immediately after our worship service you will be able to text the number on the screen and join our welcome team and they will share with you all about the church without walls we also want to say welcome to our international audience thank you so much for joining us each and every week thank you to those who are joining us from mexico and united kingdom panama and the bahamas from anguilla in canada in norway and australia let's thank god for our international audience and in that same spirit of welcoming and celebration we want to say congratulations to those who are celebrating the union of marriage celebrating 30 years as lee and antoinette hill 30 years of marriage celebrating 38 years larry and glenn simpson and celebrating 39 years of marriage our very own pastor and charita was amen to god to be the glory for them and happy birthday to lady reid happy birthday to our first lady i tell you what we're excited our pastor will begin a new sermon series this month six unquestionable measures for your flourishing so get ready grab your bibles we're excited to have our pastor back in the pulpit and looking forward to a great sermon series we also want to say to you church without walls family thank you so very much for your continued support in our disaster relief and recovery efforts we are continuously praying for those who are impacted by hurricane ida and certainly we know many of our church family members have family members who've joined them here in houston who were impacted we're asking you to continue to to support and to give towards our disaster recovering relief effort not only for those who are impacted by hurricane ida but also disaster recovery efforts for haiti so please if you would you can go to give.tcww.org and you can also text disaster to 713-597-6828 text disaster to 713-597-6828 we are in the middle of hurricane season and remember you can go to readyharris.org for the latest information and sign up to get the information as it relates to our hurricane season we're still in the middle of uh the highest level level one threat level in harris county so please make sure you're doing everything you can to protect yourself wear your mask practice social distancing wash your hands use hand sanitizer and we we all do our part then guess what we'll get through this together peace be on to you [Music] [Music] jesus went to calvary [Music] like you and me [Music] to say oh i am [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to say my [Music] my [Music] glorious is [Music] nobody else can do it nobody else can do it like my god hallelujah we bless that wonderful name of jesus because of the blood i'm standing here today [Music] hey is more precious set me free it came from my life [Music] [Music] that he did [Music] was more precious than silver or gold [Music] three [Music] free [Music] [Music] [Music] nothing but nothing [Music] it was amazing [Music] there is about [Music] the blood [Music] precious hey hey [Music] three hallelujah [Music] and we thank you [Music] free yeah my god [Music] this is the day the lord has made we rejoice and we are glad in it take the word of god this morning and open it to first corinthians a letter that will be in over the next several weeks today is a stand-alone message the series of messages six unquestionable truths about flourishing actually begins next week but today i want to focus on one of the symbols of the church that we honor and esteem and i wanted to visit this today primarily because of the covet conditions and having to be at home and having to truly live out our faith in a particular way and so i want us to look at the lord's supper this morning and how we can live the lord's supper in our homes as we tag along this idea of bringing god's house into our houses none of us assumed that we would be distant in our worship as long as if we have been and i want to make sure that the people of our congregation as you're attempting to live your faith at home and in the world that we don't set aside what is essential to our christian faith so open the word of god to romans chapter 11. a rather to first corinthians chapter 11 and stay there and then i want us to look at what paul has given to us to do the word reminds us here beginning at verse 23 first corinthians 11 23 hear what paul says to the church what i'm about to read to you is actually a longer discussion that paul is carrying on with the corinthian christians about worship and now he comes down to tables and he's really distinguishing the table of the lord from the table of the devil god's table from the enemy's table and what we ought to do when we come to this significant moment and parents i pray now that if the children are not up worshiping with you in this worship that in the next service you make sure that you sit together because this is a word specifically for them beginning at verse 23 in chapter 11 of first corinthians for i received from the lord but i also passed on to you the lord jesus on the night that he was portrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said take this as my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever and this is our tag for the day for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death till he comes this is the word of god amen if you have to hang a tag raise an umbrella and draw this sermon beneath it you could just talk about symbols more than signs something significant about all of that we know about symbols and signs and we know that signs and symbols are more than merely signs and symbols rings flags nooses diplomas they are signs or they are symbols but they are not mere symbols as a pastor i've had the privilege of standing with families as loved ones have folded their tents and moved upstairs and i have watched at times where surviving spouses will come to the casket and they will put in the hand of a recumbent loved one a ring or they would retrieve a ring from the finger and carried away with them and i learned then no one with good sense would ever say to them well it's just a symbol it's just a symbol why would you touch it that symbol speaks of children children and speaks of child birth and speaks of long nights in prayer and struggle and love and benevolence it's more than just a symbol we're on the weekend holiday of labor day and we raise flags and we have seen over the last years how people have acted both positive and negative about flags some of the same people that responded in indignation about flags because people bent a knee were the same people that cheered when other flags were draped around their shoulder in the insurrection on the nation's capital it's more than just mere symbol nooses it's really a kind of simple thing that you do the tired but the image provokes meaning beyond the symbol it carries with it a very ugly scar in americans history of people who have been lynched and murdered in public and their death actually displayed almost like a particular end quotes worship service diplomas or more than just pieces of paper that hangs upon our walls these pieces of paper that we work for high school maybe college or maybe grad school or taking a terminal degree you could purchase those pieces of paper that these degrees are on for little or no money to burn them down the ashes but when you look at that it says something about one's achievement one's excelling one's commitment one's congratulations it's more than just a symbol it's more than just mere symbol when we come to the church we have symbols and that's what paul is holding up before us today and he says to us we ought to do some things and as often as we do this we proclaim the lord's death until he comes we come to what some in our denomination refer to as the lord's supper but there are other names too and many denominations ascribe to different names and then there are some that don't ascribe to those particular names some refer to the act that we refer to as the lord's supper as the sacrament or the sacramentum most i shouldn't say most many dismiss not the word but away from calling it that because they don't believe that there's a power that comes from the elements to the person that a grace is passed down to them but maybe if we would retrieve that word and look at it in its etymology we wouldn't be afraid to use that term at times it speaks of one's loyalty a commitment to maybe we need some sacrament in the church a pronounced loyalty a commitment to something others refer to this experience that paul is writing about as the eucharist it's a beautiful word it comes from the fourfold words of matthew mark luke and then in corinthians as jesus takes and give thanks to this we call it the eucharist meal the thanksgiving meal the meal of gratitude the love feast some people call it that and then others call it communion that we're in communion with god and with communion with one another and still others call it the lord's supper because it is the table of the lord that the lord is the host inviting us to his table but there's another name that we often rarely refer to the table as and it's the table of proclamation it is the reenacted drama of what god did for us in jesus christ on the cross and so here when we hold the word of god and look at it it reminds us of this proclamation for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes it's an exhibition on one hand a declaration on the other and a proclamation still on the other hand it's an exhibition in the sense that when this act is dramatized of taking the bread and the cup and we hold it up it begins to announce itself to the world it's universal have you ever been in a place where you were in a different christian tradition where you didn't understand any of the words but the people come to the table one of the practices that we have in our family when we could vacation and we would be in different places there would be language barriers but we always number one if we knew we were going to be in that place in the week on the weekend we would always find a place to worship and sometimes we have to worship in catholic churches and lutheran churches and anglican churches the majority of the church experiences that we have had had always been beyond the denominational tradition that we'd we had been reared in and so we would go and worship and there were times there was severe language barriers and we couldn't understand a word that was being said but when they came to the table and they raised that bread and broke it not knowing any word we knew what they were doing if you take this bread and when they would lift that cup and this cup you remember me and so it's a universal appeal to this large supper and the beauty of it is in its exhibition it's a proclamation and children hear it almost always in some worship or another children would come up and they would ask their parents what does this mean and parents on the other hand would come and say could you explain this to my children today you are the priest of your home and you actually can tell them what this means and as you tell them you remind yourself of what this means whether you call it the sacrament the eucharist the communion the lord's supper the table is proclaiming that as often as we do this we do remember our lord's death until he comes there was a time when i grew up those you may be just a little older in my group you probably recall a time where the congregation was divided on who took the lord's supper only those who had been baptized and so the baptized were the ones i can remember wanting to take that wafer on a sunday and my mother said to me you haven't been baptized in fact in the great metropolitan tabernacle church of london england the way they did it they had the members the baptized the members on the ground floor and the non-members were in the balcony and they looked down with exhibition or to the exhibition of proclamation and many times many people would respond to the gospel because they said i want to be in that number we don't do that now but we should at least elevate the importance of this to say that this is an act of grace that god has given us in jesus christ and it is for those who have made their confessions that jesus christ is my lord as often as you do this you proclaim the lord's death until he comes we remember him and so as we are remembering our lord on this day we are proclaiming him also we are raising our voices and this proclamation is not limited to the professional pulpit it is not for the ordained clergy the licensed preacher it is for everyone that raises their voice when the choir was repeating those words and speaking of his death and his blood and his resurrection all of this is proclaiming his death until he returns the very invitation to bring god's house into your house and to worship this morning was another way of saying to uh to us and to one another that we are in fact remembering the lord's death until he comes which is a rather strange thing to do in the first place because normally when we remember people we remember them by their birthday not their death day we did it today in worship we paused to say in recognition that we want to celebrate the birth day and so we have days that have been set aside for that very reason we have washington's birthday we have martin luther king's birthday and we celebrate the person that works their birthplace their involvement in the world birthday but when we come today to the lord's table we are remembering the lord's death day of what god has done for us in jesus christ as john killing just says in that moment on calvary at that death outside of the walls of jerusalem god was hugging himself in jesus christ raising his arms and hugging us and reminding us that he loves us so much who is this table for for those whom god loves and for those who have turned their affections to god loves them to god to god who loves them for who does god love those that he loves and to whom do we love the one who has loved us first here we come again to this large table and reflecting on what god has done for us again in jesus christ this god of hours it is exhibition it's proclamation it's declaration it is god reminding us of what he did on calvary when jesus died now when we speak of his death we don't speak of it in morbid tones we don't speak of it in such solemnity that we walk around sackcloth and ashes we speak of his death for what he did to those of whom jesus spoke in his beatitude blessed are the poor that is that when we found ourselves morally spiritually ethically bankrupt and we knew we couldn't do anything for ourself god did it for us in jesus christ our arms were too short to reach up to god and so god on calvary reached down to us and unfortunately you can talk about christ and his death and people don't get nearly as excited about that as you tell them how they can get a raise and how they can get a bonus but i'm telling you all of that shall fade away you won't take any of that with you in the glory but the grace of god in jesus christ that you'll live with forever here he has given to us this great gift in proclamation exhibition declaration a lot of names that we could have given to the lord's supper isn't it how we could have remembered it or to the christian faith no wonder people think it's strange of us when they look at christians of what we celebrate the death of our lord in our churches we have crosses an emblem of execution i mean people wear it as jewelry now but there was a day where nobody would be caught alive wearing a cross that would be an invitation to execution for once to say i've been executed or you can execute me for my crime jesus died not as a lord but as a criminal and so when we proclaim the lord's death we're not proclaiming those that crucified him we're not elevating the name of pilate the fifth procure we're not setting up celebrating his name in life we're speaking of those that participated in the drama where our lord was crucified he died so there are some people who have made suggestions jrw stock says that suggestions have been made in his book atonement where people said they could have selected any other kind of emblem to remember our lord or or to remember our faith by that we could have selected some other things for instance you know there are those who says well well why not the cradle it would celebrate the incarnation of jesus and others would come along and they would say well how about we celebrate the carpenter's tools to say that jesus identified with the tradesmen or the trades woman or the common person uh as a working person maybe we should uh elevate the uh towel and that he girded himself with and we could say that we too are servants to him but that's not what he raised up he raised up what happened on a hill called california to remind us that at the cross at the cross where i first saw the light and the burdens of my heart have rolled away it's there by faith that i received my sight and now i'm happy all the days that's what's been raised up for us to remind us of what god has done for us in jesus christ that paul is the one that's speaking about this and notice what he says about it he says that this has been passed down to me now i pass it down to you he's more emphatic about it he says that it is the lord who passed it down to him and now he's passing what god has passed down to him and jesus to us well remember jesus had been crucified before paul showed up on the scene so how in the world does jesus pass down to paul for paul to pass down to us i'm glad you asked it is one more testimony that we serve a risen savior and he's in the world today i know that he is living no matter what men may see i see his hand of mercy i hear his voice a cheer and just the time i need him he's always near he lives he lives salvation to impart you ask me how i know he lives he lives he lives in my heart paul was saying i was on my way to try to put an end to the christ movement this whole jesus movement that had been circulating ran in conflict with my judaism i was a young man of zeal i had studied in the seminary i'd gone to the divinity school i was waiting on the one that people that said was arriving and i had papers to put an end to the church and while i was on my way on the damascus road reflecting on how i would end this whole jesus movement jesus caught up with me and i had to say my lord and my god and paul says i know that i'm one that was born out of season but the same jesus that called you on the roadside of galilee is the same one that called me on the streets of damascus he's a living savior and he didn't stop calling in galileo damascus he'll call you right now [Applause] he'll call now and so our lord says now as often as you do what you're getting ready to do you're proclaiming my death until i come back that death is a reminder that my death is a proclamation to the world that i am the one that is able to forgive your sins i am the one regardless of how ugly and dirty and nasty sin has affected you i'm able by my blood to cleanse you up i've been washed in the blood of the lamb theologians they work with words you probably have picked that up being around church that one of the things that preachers have to grapple with is how to use words and use words right and there are times when i preach sometimes i overshoot the truth and sometimes i shoot beneath the truth and other times i miss things even when you're reading translations you pick up that translators can mistranslate some things people have given themselves to skillful interpretations sometimes can over interpret underinterpret misinterpret because you always working with trying to get to the truth there are theories that have been passed down that those who stand where i'm standing now must give attention to if they're going to be faithful to biblical preaching and the proclamation of the gospel it's all right to talk about everything else but you got to bring people to the point of redemption you have to bring them to know why god has created them they have to understand that god has created them for a particular purpose and that purpose first is to glorify god then enjoy life forever whatever you do in your career your job choices your vocation your pro your your profession god has called you to serve him in those areas that is if you're a teacher he expects you to be a teaching priest if you are a bus driver to be a bus driving priest if you are a doctor to be a doctor priest god calls you to serve him wherever you are and in this moment we work with words trying to find out what's the best way to talk about jesus so we have theories that have come along you've heard these theories all those who are on our staff who are seminary trained they have to study these theories and they know about these theories that come along sometimes there is the ransom theory that is where jesus is offered up as a ransom to pay the price to bring us back to god the penal theory where he pays the price for us the substitutionary theory where jesus dies in our place christ the victor theory where god in christ is king and lord and he strips satan of all of his power and makes him subject to his will all of these theories but when you don't know the theories and you haven't read that just remember this as often as you take the bread and as often as you drink the cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes again that's what he's calling us to do until he comes again i'm done now the lord bishop of durham had served god faithful he became very ill and had to be distant from people and in his distance locked in his library for weeks when he came out people asked him what had been what had he been reading while he was recovering he said i set my books aside and i reflect on one thing and that is jesus died for my sins every now and then church and i i say this and i hear it all the time this is what i do this is my world and almost every day when i hear people talk about the goodness of the lord and how blessed they are they're always attaching it to something material something american some kind of logo that has been bestowed upon them i want you now to move into a dimension of spiritual growth that if god doesn't give you a car house a razor job you are still able to say that the lord has been good for he has forgiven me of all of my sins g.h morrison was a grand preacher of another generation he passed it for 50 years in bournemouth england and in that village there was a beautiful woman in his congregation in face features and continents she was beautiful disposition lovely children but our hands were severely turned in on her and when people would see a face and features and countenance and encountered a spirit so beautiful but they were always distracted by her hands turned in and one day a daughter said that to her mother your face is so beautiful your feet is incontinence but mama your hands she had never told the story to her daughter that a fire had broken out in the nursery of their house that she slept in and she beat the flames out with her hands and they were severely burned a daughter said mama your hands are the most prettiest hands and features i've ever seen when we look at the cross the ugliest thing that we see is the crucifixion there's nothing more hard than the crucifixion of our lord to see him bleeding and dying on that stick there's nothing as distracting and unattractive as that but when we say i came to jesus as i was weary wounded and sad the cross becomes the loveliest thing that we know at the cross that's what we see the beauty of what god has done for us now i have to sit down now and we're going to go to the table together today i wanted us to go to the table after the sermon because i want you for the rest of your life when you bring friends into god's house and at your house and when we gather for the next lord's supper and you say to people are you going to participate in the lord's supper and they make light of it you tell them don't play with my jesus for what the lord does because the ugliest thing that could have happened has become the most lovely thing that has happened to us when you bring them together don't play around with if you got a cracker that's just a symbol but the meaning goes beyond that piece of bread don't laugh at that that's the symbol and the meaning goes beyond that if you got water grape juice whatever it is the symbol goes beyond that this is the body of our lord and the bloodshed of our lord and now we're eating to god's glory but more than that we are proclaiming what he's done to the world until he comes back again now i remember the pastor and i say it to you and i'll say it again after the last act of that service in the church when the ushers or the deacons had served the congregation and the deacons and the preachers have been served the preacher would ask this question has everybody been served and the preacher would wait and look around and make sure if there were any hands and sometimes i bent it i seen it a ham would go up said she hasn't been served there's a family there that haven't been served make sure that everybody is served has everybody been served and then you repeat the words and you would take the bread and take the cup then the preacher would say almost as an invitation if you haven't been served then you need to be saved so all of you who are listening now i want to make sure all of you get served you can start getting ready right now take your time go get your bread and get your cup if it's there go get it i want to make sure everybody's been served but then somebody in your house may take this meal but ask him have you been saved have you been baptized now you know baptism is our other symbol it doesn't save you it's your response to being saved being in the family of god sometimes we'll call it we're the baptized so let's get served i want everybody served and while you're getting served at home i'm also asked have you been saved so we're going to come to the table and then after that i want to give you an opportunity to respond to what god has done for you in jesus christ that you leave the day saying in our houston congregation and our congregations globally i have been served and i am saved let's go to the table of the lord together while the choir sings and let's respond to what god's gonna do for us amen [Music] we do this we do [Music] this [Music] me [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] until that day [Music] until the very hour he said you'll be coming back to join us in sweet communion [Music] [Music] [Music] shall we pray our father we thank you for the word of god this morning from first corinthians chapter 11. to be reminded to remember to proclaim your message and so now as we prepare to receive the bread of life and drink from the cup of blessing thank you for forgiving our sins and thank you for cleansing us from all unrighteousness with glad and generous hearts we open our mouths in this cathedral as well as in our homes and say thank you for being such a great redeemer in jesus name we pray and god's people said amen and after they had given things jesus with his disciples took the bread and he broke it and he said eat this as my body in remembrance of me and after the meal he took the cup and said this is the new covenant in my blood and as often as you drink this and eat this you remember me let's drink together and we'll never ever again forget to proclaim the message of what god has done for us in jesus when we come to this table lord thank you for being such a glorious god amen [Music] yes [Music] oh that gives me [Music] [Music] oh [Music] one day [Applause] hallelujah thank you choir for blessing us let's prepare now to give our gifts because that's another way that we actually proclaim the message of the lord jesus christ let's give the day where there's a temple there's a need where there's a need there's a provision where there's a provision that's god and whether it's god he'll supply in miraculous ways it's offering time pray the lord yeah what a joy let's give and i think haley has something for us she ought hi church family welcome to trending family it has been an honor serving as the media ministries correspondent as well as the church with outlaws influencer i'm excited to announce that we've decided to update trending we have a new face meet taylor robertson thank you hayley i'm looking forward to this new role yes and we're so excited to have you this is going to be so much fun and taylor is a fantastic addition to trending with all that being said would you like to do the honors taylor sure now let's see what's new beyond the view [Music] church family we will begin our fall session of small group classes on tuesday september 21st with teachings written by our pastor ralph douglas west check out sgbs.tcww.org to join one of our classes to equip and encourage you in this season resilient the ability to spring back into shape after bending stretching or even being compressed does this describe you the pandemic health challenges financial crisis the stresses of work and family along with life's endless twists and turns can be the strongest person but you you're still standing stand the trials and tests that stretched you resulted into something beautiful and a new a resilient woman so let's celebrate join the mosaic women's ministry for our amazing women's weekend virtual experience september 23rd through the 25th you are amazing graciously embracing your journey and persevering toward your new best spiritual physical emotional and social self your hardships did not kill you you emerged like a phoenix from the ashes stronger wiser resilient so join us today and register at amazingwomensweekend.com hello family it's been quite a year although the vaccine is here fear is still steering our lives interfering with our minds closing the blinds on what hope looks like insurrection strikes covet cases spike with a new variant taking flight but i'm supposed to keep a smile on my face right [Music] despite we fight never losing sight of hope changing the scope of our lens to reflect connect and protect hope is here this is our safe space where we're free to embrace god's grace without fear of feeling misplaced when all hope is gone we are drawn to an energy that is incomprehensible but is still accessible hope has always been here dear maybe your church experience has smeared your perception of what fellowship is and what it looks like let all hearts and minds be cleared our savior did not bring you here to veer into the beaten path of wrath come one come all when the sun sets and your worries weigh a ton know that we are here for you we won't shun it's been a year hope is here we need you you've been through too much to stop short now take my hand and i'll show you how [Music] back to you pat lord have mercy all right look this way i want to bless you as we prepare to uh go into the world to serve i want to thank um our uh bus drivers our greeters and ushers for helping mount sinai missionary baptist church uh pastor sam gilbert ii as they um funeralized the former pastor's dad uh on on friday thank you and then i saw some of the people and uh i don't see a lot even on these services about how much i miss you and all that um pilots airplane pilots they see what nobody else sees on that flight they see turbulence before it come and all that and the last thing you want on a flight with inclement weather is a panicking pilot that would send everybody into nervous shock so i don't say a lot about it because i want to keep everybody calm we want to be calm and so it was good to see one or two faces and i said that day to uh my children i said man i really miss the people of this fellowship and i mean really miss you and i haven't seen you and it's been a long time since i've seen you and i want you to know i love you i thank god for you i praise god for you i i raise your name and your family's name daily in prayer i look forward to the day i pray that the lord will keep us where we can gather together under one roof again um if we can if we dr holtz was with us last week and i pray for him the criticism that this man has come under it's amazing how people get angry with you when you're trying to help them um as long as we're telling people that there's clorox pills you can take people to believe that but the very moment that you tell them this is what i'm trying to i'm trying to save your life i'm battling with members in my own family i'mma be honest with you i can believe a lot of things but i couldn't believe in my family that i would have young nieces and nephews that would protest me about a vaccine and i knew then if my i said look i pray for some of y'all because i already know what you're dealing with and the last thing we need is enough of somebody to get sick to say i wish i had done it just go do it that's all you got to do scared of a needle if you get sick you're going to be scared more than that and i have some things i would say but but i'm not going to do that i'm not going to do it out of love i'm not going to say it but i'm telling you when the camera go off i i got some things that i could say so you know what to do and you know what to do and do what is right to do what is right uh last thing i told you what uh one of the uh one of my men said to me and uh was saying you know when is past gonna open up the doors i'm not the hole up of opening the doors of our church i'm not to hold up you get vaccinated you mask up you know all the reason i don't just say anybody come is because our church is just too large for that that's all and you can't screen that that's the reason why i don't do it you know i know a lot of you been vaccinated i know a lot of you got your booster and you could come only problem is we when we started with that we started getting reports of people who had been uh who had contracted the virus so my goal is try to keep my members as a shepherd i think one of my responsibilities to keep you healthy and whole i think that's what it is and and as one lady said to me said i know he want us there we don't build all that building all them seats and you got to preach the empty seats every sunday you know i want to see my people here you you know how much i enjoy worship god knows i want to see you but i don't want to see you so much that you get sick i i don't we don't need that and you notice i said sick and didn't die and so some of the nurses were saying to me pastor west we we can recover people now who've been vaccinated the problem we're dealing with is the long-term medical effects what it does to the heart what it does to the lung what it does to the liver what it does to the kidney you don't want to mess with this this thing ain't nothing to play with there's nothing to play with so i pray for you every day i love you we'll get together i pray that the lord get us back together and uh and we're gonna have a great great time uh it's hard for me to carry on about football that this that this that this virus is so bad but i'll be back to my original self by next week to see what happened today in these games yeah el did did we play and then baylor play yesterday yeah did we win we did well god be praying god god we pray hallelujah yeah yeah we need we need to win we need to keep on winning look this way i want to bless you uh and i pray for you this week and uh if you want to get a running start start reading through first corinthians the sermon comes from chapter two verses one through five sunday but if you want to look at the different chapters the focus is six unquestionable truths about flourishing the whole idea is how do you grow i've been thinking about this how do we continue to grow our faith under these conditions so chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 9 chapter 13 chapter 15. i think those are the ones i got chapter 2 i know that chapter 3 chapter 9 chapter 10 chapter 13 chapter 15. and so we're just looking at those areas in the corinthian church where people were encouraged to flourish i'm using that word because i found out around the school that that's the new term that people are using not flourishing i think over the summer we was thriving then we we moved from thriving to flourishing real quick you know so we went from thriving to flourishing but it's all about growth and maturity all right look this way let me bless you i love you i praise god for you the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face smile upon you and be gracious unto you the lord lift the light of his countenance upon you and grant you his peace and may the lord bless you when you go out and come in when you rise up early and settle late in your labor and in your legion your laughter and in your tears until that day when we shall stand at the feet of jesus where there's no sunrise or sunset god bless you church i love you all right big hugs i'll see you soon [Music] you

Channel: The Church Without Walls

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Length: 93min 10sec (5590 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021